Former Manitoba finance minister Stan Struthers has issued an apology after five women, including a former cabinet colleague, came forward to CBC News with allegations of unwanted touching — behaviour they say went on for years despite complaints to NDP brass.

CBC has learned party officials received at least three complaints about Struthers's tickling and harassment between 2010 and 2015.

One of those complainants was Joëlle Saltel-Allard, Struthers's former press secretary. She said her boss's behaviour was well-known among staff, who nicknamed him "Minister Tickles" behind his back.

"If he would see me coming down the hall, he would come and start tickling me, or in his office, around staff, around his assistant, so it would happen quite frequently and it continued for a long time," she said.

Between this and the "let's-look-the-other-way-and-pretend-this-isn't-a-problem" approach the NDP took towards Kinew's accusations of domestic violence, the NDP has no moral ground to attack the Pallister government on when it comes to standing up for women's rights.